How to make China's exploits work for us

Kenya's first rail network, linking Kenya and Uganda, was completed in the 1900s.

Colloquially known as the 'Lunatic Express', the project claimed the lives of 2,500 construction workers, some of who were eaten by the famed 'Man Eaters of Tsavo' who had acquired an affinity for human flesh.

The main reason for the 'Iron Snake's' existence was to exploit resources, ease commerce and protect the source of the River Nile, a sphere of influence for the British colonial power.

The construction of the line was carried out by over 30,000 labourers from British India who were brought in due to a lack of indigenous labour. Some of the surviving Indians who stayed on created the community of East African Indians.

Fast forward to over a century later, to the advent of the Standard Gauge Railway. A recent announcement revealed that the Chinese-financed line, with a price tag of Sh327 billion and a completion timeline of March 2018, would commence this month. Up to this point, great news.

Thank our lucky stars that the assigned contractor is not one of those Kenyan briefcase affairs we get to do our roads because I have a feeling we'd still be staring at a half-finished project in 2025.

However, the issue that has raised Kenyans' ire is the news that 5,000 workers will be shipped in to undertake construction of the railway. The Transport ministry estimates that 60 jobs will be created for every kilometre of rail built. Great for a country that is struggling with a 40 per cent unemployment rate.

While 5,000 in a population of China's one billion people is inconsequential, in Kenya, 5,000 jobs is quite significant and potentially impacts over 5,000 families because of the multiplier effect.

Yes, I acknowledge that if an institution, whether private or public, makes a significant investment, considerations such as completion on time and budget are key, as well as creating some level of employment for itself.

However, the interests of the host country must also be taken into consideration. In what we hope will be a decade of rapid expansion given the recent developments in the extractive industries, the focus should be on leaving Kenyans in a better position whether financially or in terms of technical skills, after the projects have taken off. Which is why certain concerns need to be addressed.

Thankfully, we have just under five years to get them resolved.

I have read in certain quarters that Chinese employment practices in other countries leave a lot to be desired. Flouting minimum wage laws and working long hours for low pay are cited as the worst offences. For such a significant project, the labour groups involved might want to work closely with the Ministry of Transport to ensure compliance with labour laws.

My biggest gripe, however, will be around the knowledge transfer element. I will presume the 5,000 roles the Chinese are importing mostly revolve around the skilled, engineering and supervisory parts of the construction.

These could be where competencies are deemed lacking, and where the most attention is needed to ensure that time and budgetary constraints are adhered to.

If indeed these skills are being brought in because those resident in Kenya are found wanting, then the desirable situation would be to ensure that the same skills are transferred to their Kenyan equivalents. This may not be a priority for the Chinese government but it certainly is for us.

Another couple of years down the line when a relatively complex construction requiring specialised skills needs to be taken up, are we going to be happy having skills imported from China or some other foreign country? By then we should have amassed the competencies required to do the work ourselves, from start to finish.

If you don't think this is a task that will require deliberate effort, then consider this. I have a couple of friends who work in industries that are heavily reliant on technology. Given that they partner with Chinese institutions, the equipment is imported from China.

The interesting part is that all the instructions and functions are in Chinese yet they work in an all-English speaking environment. So what are these highly educated staff forced to do?

Cram the functions by their symbols and hope they don't forget that that squiggly letter means 'start'. How ludicrous is that? It reminds me, rather eerily, of the 8-4-4 education system - and look how well that turned out for us.

After all, this Sino-led construction boom is a strategic move for China. Aligning itself with a territory that is on the cusp of a booming extractive industry is not entirely fortuitous.

Since the economic reforms in the 1980s, China's economy had been growing at an average rate of over 9 per cent per annum, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. How has the government achieved this? One of the ways is by investing heavily in raw materials around the work to fuel this growth.

Expecting our country to benefit from this process is not asking too much.